HST-374 Jefferson to Jackson: Culture and Politics in the New Nation
Though the American colonies could claim victory in the Revolution, the war's end did not guarantee a unified national identity. People struggled to reconcile the promise of Revolution with the realities of daily life and politics in the new republic. This class explores the various voices competing to be heard on the national and international stage, from the political leaders who drafted founding documents, to the women who learned to "stand and speak" despite repeated demands for their silence. We will encounter stories of African-American men and women who called attention to the Revolution's unfulfilled commitment to freedom, and we will examine the struggles of the thousands of displaced Native peoples whose efforts for coexistence were marred by conflict and violence inflicted by an expansionist republic. We will also discuss the techniques and practices that historians of many stripes (educators, curators, preservationists, podcasters, journalists, etc.) use to tell these stories to an array of audiences today.